What goes into a rebrand? One company discusses their dramatic overhaul

What goes into a rebrand? Well, first, you need to look at why you feel your company needs to go through the growing pains and stress involved with a rebrand,

There’s typically two different reasons a company might decide to rebrand. The main one being that the business is slowing growing out of touch with their core consumer base. Maybe their fan base has matured, or maybe current shifts in technology require the company to find new ways to stay relevant and profitable. The other example of a company that might be considering a rebrand is one that is growing at a substantial rate. While some people might take that success as a sign to maintain – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – others might see it as a chance to expand, to grow their profits and their presence.

Mattress company, Amerisleep, falls into this second category. While mattresses are not something I usually write about, Amerisleep is taking an interesting angle in the world of sleep. The founders of the company, brothers Firas and Moe Kittaneh and Joey Holy, decided it was time to continue to separate themselves from other mattress companies by offering an “Apple Store-like” experience in their new stores, while infusing technology and heavy research into their mattresses. I had the chance to talk with Firas and Joey to discuss some of the things that went into taking their online-only mattress company into the world of physical retail, as well as the reasoning behind a rebrand and the tech that is going into their stores and mattresses. You can check out what they have to say in the interview below.

Credit: UnsplashWill Amerisleep be able to capture that Apple Store feel?

When dealing with a rebrand, what kind of things go into consideration? When did you decide a rebranding was right for Amerisleep?

Joey Holt: There are two key elements of a successful rebrand: The first is making sure to conduct in-depth customer research. We asked: What do each of our customer segments need from our business moving forward? How could our business evolve to reach a broader audience too? We aimed to discover new ways of delivering happiness and better sleep to consumers.

The second is deciding which core components need to be updated and which should remain the same. We knew we needed to update our logo, product line and website. At the same time, we also were planning for our upcoming expansion into retail. So we wanted to make sure our brand, products and messaging resonated with customers online and offline. Of course, we’ve kept our core mission the same: to provide people with a truly restorative sleep.

We began investigating our options for a brand relaunch roughly a year ago, anticipating huge growth in our business and our foray into retail. In 2016, we generated nearly $30 million in revenue. We grew 283% year-over-year and now have hundreds of thousands of customers here in the U.S. and abroad in South Korea and Australia. By that point, Firas, Moe and I had already been involved in the mattress industry for a decade and Amerisleep, originally an online-only brand, was six years old. We knew it was time to take our business to the next level and invested in this rebrand.

What kind of tech do you have going into the mattresses?

Joey: We are one of the first direct-to-consumer mattress companies to vacuum seal our beds in a box which heavily reduces our carbon footprint and makes shipping and handling easier for our logistics partners and our customers. And to provide people with mattresses that are scientifically engineered to enhance their sleep quality, we’ve incorporated smart fabrics and materials such as Celliant and Bio-Pur™ making our beds breathable and responsive.

What’s going to make this store in AZ so special? What’s it going to be like?

Firas Kittaneh: Alongside the launch of the new Amerisleep brand, we’re opening our first flagship store here in Arizona. And with it, we introduce the future of mattress retail. We’ve developed the Amerisleep sleep experience store with the goal of fundamentally changing the way people shop for mattresses. On-site, we showcase only five mattress models which use materials and technology that scientifically enhance sleep. Why five mattress models? Each have distinct firmness levels.

We’ve developed the perfect mattress at every traditional firmness level (soft, medium-soft, medium, medium-firm, and firm) to make it simple and straightforward for people to buy a bed that’s truly perfect for them. Also, we’ve outfitted our sleep experience store with 8K resolution TV Walls, touchscreen displays and interactive content to give people the opportunity to learn about how our fabrics, memory foam and manufacturing processes all work together to provide a superior sleep.

We even feature nap rooms where customers can test out what it’s like to own an Amerisleep bed. Our staff are trained in sleep science enabling them to educate customers about healthier sleep strategies too. And our in-store specialists are salaried and compensated without commission, which means they can focus exclusively on providing exceptional customer support instead of aggressively trying to push sales.

With the rebrand, what all is changing and how is that being reflected in the new store?

Firas: In the past 12 months, we’ve surveyed thousands of customers and conducted in-depth research to gather a better understanding of where the future of the mattress industry lies and what that means for Amerisleep. What we discovered was an opportunity for us to improve our product line, enhance the customer and buying experience and create a timeless brand consumers domestically and overseas would associate with better sleep.

We’ve redesigned our products, logo and website too which reinforces our commitment to leading the sleep revolution. This is our first rebrand since we launched the business in 2010 and we look forward to having a more versatile and universally known company consumers here in the U.S. and abroad can relate to. This is increasingly important as we’ve already expanded to South Korea and Australia.

In close, this interview really helps expand on some of the pressure points that a company might look at when decided if a rebrand is right for them. By doing extensive market research and looking at places to improve, the company was able to decide on a logical, and hopefully profitable, plan of attack for their rebranding while still sticking to their core beliefs that have been instilled in the company since day one.

This post is part of our contributor series. The views expressed are the author's own and not necessarily shared by TNW.